Urban Decay: feminine and dangerous palettes

While Urban Decay had everything on their site 20% off I decided that I had to grab the feminine and dangerous palettes that I have had my eye on for literally three months now.  For my birthday my BFF had gotten me the Fun Palette which I absolutely adore!  Fine my link for the Fun Palette Here.   So the Dangerous Palette comes in the sleek black patent leather case.  When you open it you find six deep smokey eye shadows and a small lip junkie.  From the top let you find Gravity (a deep purple with flecks of silver), Loaded (a deep emerald green), Evidence (a dark blue), Deeper (a coppery gold), Mushroom ( a dark silvery-gray), and Ace (a deep gray/blue).   

 

 

 

 

 

(not sure why my arm looks so crazy in the pic???)

 

the Feminine Palette is a great purple zippered pouch (just like the fun and dangerous palettes) with a fishnet design on the inside.  In the feminine palette you will find Bordello ( a pinky-red with silvery gold flecks), Skimp (a matte vanilla), AC/DC (a silvery-purple), Gunmetal (a deep slate gray with silver flecks), Hijack ( a satin deep green), and Lost (a deep tan). 

 

 

 

Overall I am so happy with my purchases.  There are a ton of fun colors in these sets that are easily blend-able and can add a punch of color to various eye looks.  My only complaint is the lack of matte colors.  I love me some shimmer, but I do like to break it up with some matte shades once in a while. Another bit of info about palettes is that once you have used up the shades you can remove the interior (it is magnetized) and use the pouch for other items! 

 

Hell of a Ride!

I must say that the last two months have been eventfull ones!  We moved out of our house of fourteen years and are now living with my mother-in-law while we build our new home.  We have just recieved our final house plans (yay!) and we are slotted to break ground around November 15th (double yay!).  In the mean time I am attempting to stay sane.  In order to do so, I am finding that retail therapy is doing the trick! I will be posting all sorts items that I have purchased over the last six weeks!  Photos, details, and reviews to come!

I am thinking that I will start another blog on this whole house building process...the good, the bad, and the VERY UGLY!

Wet n Wild: Zero Dark Flirty

As I said in my previous post I also picked up the purple Zero Dark Flirty trio when I stumbled on the new Wet n Wild sets.  I don't typically do a lot of purple on a daily basis but I figured what the heck.  Plus, it might be a nice change for the fall.  I am really not one to do an ALL OVER purple so I did break this up with some of my neutral tan colors but for the most party only used the palette.  These colors are all pretty matte.  I also find that the dark purple crease color is so dark it is almost black when applied to the eye.  I still really like the look, but I don't really think you can tell that it is a deep eggplant purple.  As with all of my Wet n Wild, I am not disappointed.  I don't know that I will use this trio on a regular basis, but it is a nice set for a bit of a change.  What I am most pleased with is the mascara.  The mascara wears well, gives my lashes a nice full/long look, and I love that it applies to my lashes smoothly.  I have never tried the WNW mascaras but I see many artists carry them in the kit...I may very well be a convert!

Direct sunlight

Wet and Wild: Enlisting for Beauty

As I stated before I stumbled on a new Wet and Wild display at my local grocery store that I wasn't even searching for!  Of course immediately after buying these trios I had to try them!  Enlisting for Beauty is a trio of browns and as with all Wet n Wild they label where you can place the colors on your eyelids and the colors are all very pigmented (a little goes a long way with the darkest color!).  The top brow bone color is a  completely tan color.  The crease color is a very deep dark brown and has a very slight sheen/ shimmer to it- so slight in fact that I would say this color is more in the matte family.  The eyelid color is a satin taupe color.  My only issue with these colors is that I like a lighter highlight color for on my brow bone and inner corner but overall these colors created a nice look. I used the brow bone color on my lid, the eyelid color all over the crease, and the crease along my upper lid and added it to my crease as well.  I then used my NYX gel liner (dark brown along my upper lid) and the enclosed Wet n Wild mascara.  I have to say I am thrilled with the mascara!  It applied smoothly and gave my lashes some nice fullness and length- my lashes are fairly long but are very blond along the tips so without mascara my lashes look pretty wimpy:( This is a trio that I think many women could get a lot of use from!

Natural lighting

Direct sunlight

Unexpected Wet and Wild!

I hit the jackpot while in my local Wegmans again!  While picking up my son's medicine (weird, I think I was doing that the last time I found limited edition Wet and Wild items) I stumbled on a new Wet and Wild display titled Beauty Army.  On this display I was able to find four different eye shadow trio and mascara sets retailing for $2.99.  The sets are called Enlisting for Beauty (a brown set), I Don't do Camouflage (blues), Zero Dark Flirty (purples), and Soldiers in Charms (White/Black/Grey).  I grabbed the brown and purple set...swatches to come!

NYX Haul

While browsing my personal mecca (aka Ulta) they were running their buy one get one half off sale.  While there I splurged on a few new items: The "it" list natural lip gloss set, the natural shadow palette, the gel liner & smudger, and a new powder blush.  

Let me start with the natural eye palette.  This set comes with six colors in various neutral shades varying from matte to shimmer shades.  Starting from the left the lightest ivory shade is matte, the next shade is shimmery gold, a matte coral, a satin beige and taupe, and a dark matte chocolate brown. I have now used this palette two different times and I am loving the the versatility of this set.  I can totally use this set to make a very natural look and then add more of darker shades for more of an evening look.  

(With flash)

(Natural lighting)

I then grabbed the "it" list natural lip gloss set- I was apparently in a "natural" mood.  You will see swatches of this set below.  I am still getting used to the matte coral shade (shown on the far right)- I think that I am just so used to my lip colors being shiny that the matte throws me off a bit but otherwise I like these colors.  

I then grabbed the NYX gel liner and smudger in dark brown.  I just did a quick smudge with my finger and then using my MAC slanted liner brush swiped a line to show what it might look like when using this liner on your upper lid.  You could really use this gel liner as an awesome base for a smokey eye or if you are good with a liner brush, make some awesome looks on your upper lid.  This liner also took some serious scrubbing to get it off my hand so I have a feeling that with a primer this will really have some staying power!

  

I then grabbed another powder blush in Dessert Rose.  This color I think is going to look good on many skin tones and I am really excited to try it out. 

 

(natural lighting)                                            (with flash)

(Natural lighting)

Moving On....

I apologize for being absent over the last month or so.  Me and the Mr. decided to put our house on the market and build our dream home on an empty lot that we own.  For anyone who has sold a house before, the staging was crazy (especially for a control freak like me).  I had to do a ton of de-cluttering, cleaning, some minor repairs around the house, and a major garage clean-out.  Our goal was to have the house on the market by July 1st.  We met our goal and signed papers with our agent on the first and then pretty much had an offer on our house 24 hours later!  I am now less than 2 weeks from our closing date and attempting to get my kids all set up for their first day of school which is a little over a week away, pack, and get us moved into our temporary housing (aka my mother-in-laws house).  I am a bit overwhelmed with everything but hoping that all of this craziness will be for a great outcome!
I am so sad to say goodbye to our home which we have lived in for the last 14 years.  But I just have to keep telling myself that change is good!